How to help a dried up dendrobium

[Paul Mc]

Hello guys,

So my partner took one of our Dendrobiums to work and I figured he might just know enough to keep it alive until he brought it home. Well, he kept it alive at least, lol...

After months of asking him to bring it home for proper caring, he finally did. When I saw it I asked him "What kind of plant is that?" That's how bad it looks, lol...

A lot of the leaves had turned brown and died, and all of the canes are shrivelled up beyond belief! What was a bunch of nice, plum canes are now completely shrivelled up.

I soaked it in water for about 10 minutes when it got home. But I'm wondering if there is anything that you guys would recommend to help it's recovery. I realize that the current canes will not recover, I am only looking to assist the poor thing back to good health.

I'm considering soaking again today in a mixture of water, light fertilizer, and DynaGro ProTekt.

Thanks for your thoughts and comments!

[scy]

Can you post a picture? Are there any viable roots left? If not, I would probably do a sphag and bag to get some new growth. I had a den cane with no leaves and no roots that accidentally broke off during repotting and was able to get a keiki that way. I think dens are pretty resilient!

[pedidiva]

I think the soaking sounds good. Who knows, maybe it thinks it has gone through a winter rest/dry cycle & will perk up nicely. I have some canes that look pretty hideous (to me, anyway. I am by no means an expert)--then, "boom" new leaves. I went to an orchid house & saw some dens that looked pretty dry (to me), I asked the lady about them & she said that's what they do. Sure enough, I went back later & They had leafed out & were doing their thing.

[Amanda L]

Sounds like the plan you have will help a lot. I haven't tried sphag and bag. I tried a similar method one time and all I grew was fungus!
I do setup an OICU for sick orchids. The technique I use has worked wonders for some of the worse dens I have had. I use a tall container with river rocks in the bottom. I clip a dry cane to a flower stake and set the plant on the rocks, with the flower stake resting on the bottom of the container. I mist 2 times a day with a mixture of fertilizer and SuperThrive. The SuperThrive encourages new growth and roots. I have discovered that if a chid isn't too far gone it can be saved with just a little extra care. Like scy said Dens are pretty resilient. I have attached some photos of a plant I recovered with this method and some photos of a different chid that is in the setup.

[scy]

Oh I forgot to mention that if you can, apply some bottom heat perhaps through a seedling mat if you have one as it will encourage growth.

I don't use the traditional bag method either. I went by First Ray's sphag and bag tips. I use take out containers and punch a hole or 2 to allow a little bit of air flow to avoid mold yet still maintain higher humidity. I wrap the bottom of the cane with a paper towel moistened with diluted kln rooting hormone. I check it every day or every few days for a few minutes to make sure there's no mold and also let it air out a bit.

I bought a den victoria-reginae and panicked when I saw a bunch of thin twigs and thought it was dead. Turns out that's how it is supposed to look! Hang in there!